False Advertising

style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:
"Courier New";color:black'>Ten

            He ran.  He ran so fast that the colors of the
setting sun, the swaying trees and floating pink cherry blossoms all became a
great brown blur.  Shun had nothing against lesbians and especially not
against anyone in the gay community.  After all, Aoki and Sakaguchi were
some good friends of his.  What did scare him were lesbians like that.
Whether slutty or crazy or unattractive or . . . well, anything.  I mean,
Shun may be a guy, but he's also human.  He looked back over his shoulder
as he raced to Greenwood, slowing down a bit as his fluttering tresses fell
back into regular place, a bit billowed out by the excursion.  He scowled
at the leaves caught in his hair.  Tonight would mean a lot of brushing.

            He sighed as he walked, jacket strewn back over his
shoulder.  He didn't really care if anyone saw the blouse he wore, after
all, what could they say?  "You look like a girl?" No one at w:st="on">Greenwood was normal, why
should they care?  Besides, he had upperclassman's rights now. If freshmen
started to get uppity or even disrespectful, Shun would make sure that whatever
he had his sempais do would be a
short cry from a hospital stay. What was a bit of a secret, however, were some
of the other womanly items he owned.  He blushed a bit in thinking about
them, thanking someone above that he didn't wear them regularly.  Still,
he chuckled, knowing exactly why he had them.  After all, growing up like
he did, he naturally had questions about his identity. He could bet within
an inch of his life the Reina had tried something girlish by now. Most of the
items were store-bought, one or two originating from his mom's
collection.  So what if he wore a stuffed bra here or a silk pair of
panties there?  Just as long as no one saw. Or, at least, as long as no
one in Greenwood
saw. The one or two times Shun had the mistake of getting drunk and parading
around Tokyo in one such guise led to squeezed (while fake) breasts and a few
belts to the face. Shun was a self-respecting woman, in that sense.

            He merely shrugged the thoughts away.  There was
something utterly mainstream to just
being a boy. Shun was lucky to have somewhat of an output to be an either/or
(and perhaps a both?).  It was almost exciting, sometimes, pretending to
be a real girl.  When the sempais asked him to do it for Hasukawa's
coming, he was almost overly eager.  Shun played it off however, and was a
little reluctant that he had to dive that third day in the bathroom. 
Still, he got the occasional thrill out of prancing around his room like that –
alone – pretending to be someone else for a few moments. While not
escapism, more like. . . uh. . . well, we'll get back to that. He was almost
caught once, shoving his 'dainties' drawer shut so fast that his roommate
almost demanded to look in there.  Luckily, Kazuya had a sense of privacy.

            Shun looked up as he entered the gate of Greenwood, the
sun already set and gone, a pale light cast from far beyond the trees. 
Struck with a sudden thought, he swallowed hard. His identity questions had
been resurfacing lately, largely out of nowhere. More and more did he have the
urge to shut his curtain or to leave the room for slightly illicit reasons. Most
notably, said reasons rarely surfaced unless Hasukawa was around. And the
ultra-recent encounter with the girl from Senkoyou was a slight challenge to
what he knew about himself. Was he trying to be someone else, in a fun way – or
was he trying to be who he really was?

            "Get real!" he yelled, waving to the Dorm
Mother as he passed her on his way in, slippers in hand.  At least she
complimented him on his clothing choice.  He smiled along the way, saying
his hellos to Furusawa as he broke three steps in succession.  Shun tried
not to laugh, but Furusawa gave him the allowance by giving him a crooked,
toothy grin.  Shun stepped around the gapping holes in the ancient stairs
and made way up the steps to his room on the second floor.

            Well, almost.  Leaning against the wall he looked
between 211 and 210.  He was growing more and more interested at the style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>feeling he was getting from the sempais
and he knew he wouldn't learn anything without asking. Plus, it took his
mind off that little scare he just suffered. . . Both of them. On the other
hand, he was kinda tired and hadn't seen Kazuya since lunch when even Shun
managed to steal an onigiri.  It
was a laugh, Hasukawa having thought he'd beaten his sempais by holding his
tray all the way up above his head.  Shun innocently poked his ribs and
brought the tray back down, where he happily snagged a piece.  Mitsuru and
Shinobu actually applauded that one.  Shun was almost too modest to bow,
but when Suka-chan gave him his permission, how could he resist?  Three
years indeed. . . that much time sorta gets one into a routine – no matter how
much he won't admit it, the redhead liked getting his food stolen by his
pals.  It's what keeps them all together, Shun reasoned.  And
nourished.

            Speaking of "together," he'd made his decision
on which room he'd investigate first. Shrugging, he reached for the door.

What happens next? :

[Check on the sempais.] – Go to
Chapter Six (6)

[Run and give Hasukawa a big
'happy to see ya' hug!] – Go to Chapter Two
(2)